#peakoil Oil companies “virtually abandoning” exploration: The hunt for new stores of oil and gas has been dra...

Recent auctions for oil and gas leases have attracted little interest, the analysts said. In July, Mexico sold leases for two of its 14 offshore blocks on auction, a poor showing as the country attempts to end a 76-year state monopoly on its oil and gas reserves by opening up exploration to private firms. A lease sale for the western Gulf of Mexico in April similarly failed to drum up much interest , attracting only five companies who purchased just 33 leases, the smallest such sale for the region in more than 30 years. Bid value had fallen 80 percent in a single year, Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. analysts wrote.